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No end in sight to labour dispute, with summer school now endangered

Photograph by: NICK PROCAYLO
, PNG

Thousands of B.C. students will not be getting report cards this year and provincial exams are being modified to make them easier to mark as teachers begin the second week of their full strike.

Report cards have not been deemed an essential service, so teachers will not be required to complete them. Provincial exams were declared as essential, with teachers required to invigilate, but not mark, the Grade 10 and 11 provincials.

“Based on concerns raised by a number of superintendents related to quality and validity of the marking for Social Studies 11 and English 10, the decision has been taken to alter the sections that students will be responsible for completing related to these two exams,” a letter to superintendents from a deputy education minister says. The changes mean students will mostly complete only multiple choice answers rather than written sections of these exams, making it easier to mark the exams.

Scores will be adjusted accordingly, the letter says.

As far as final marks are concerned, the Labour Relations Board ruled Friday that the most recent Grade 10 and 11 marks would be reviewed by the classroom teachers, who must report any changes to the district. In effect, this means that Grade 10 and 11 marks would stand as of the last date that marks were entered into the computer reporting system, unless the teacher makes an adjustment.

Whether or how those grades will be communicated to parents remains up in the air, but the superintendent of schools in Surrey, B.C.’s largest district, said in a letter that report cards are not possible under a full strike.

“Unless there is some small miracle, the school year does seem to be all but over with the exception of writing the remaining provincial exams,” Jordan Tinney says in a letter to parents. “The information that we need to produce report cards is in the hands of teachers and they are on strike. The support staff we normally have to help us develop and print report cards are also honouring the picket lines and are not at work.”

Report cards have also been cancelled for elementary and middle school students in New Westminster and Vancouver.

Parents of Vancouver elementary students should assume their child will progress to the next grade unless they have been informed otherwise, a letter from VSB superintendent of schools Steve Cardwell says.

Partial report cards will be issued to students in Grade 8 through 12, the letter says.

“The information that we need in order to produce report cards is not available due to the strike. We are unable to determine an accurate final grade and will therefore assign a grade of “No Mark” (NM) for grade 8 and 9 courses, the letter states. “Students in (Grades 10, 11 and 12) will receive report cards, which will include final course marks. However, the report cards will not include comments or a description of work habits.”

The other major pressing concern in Vancouver is the need to make a decision to go ahead or cancel summer school, school board chairwoman Patti Bacchus said.

The Vancouver school board will need to decide on the fate of summer school by Wednesday or Thursday of this week, Bacchus said. Tinney’s letter says a decision on summer school in Surrey will also be made this week.

“If teachers are on strike and picket lines are up, there will be no summer school,” Tinney’s letter says. “We are all prepared and ready to go, but at this point, summer school is looking very tenuous. Some districts have already cancelled summer school. We will wait as late as possible to make that call.”

Although the letter says some districts have already cancelled summer school, the Ministry of Education has not heard of any districts that have cancelled.

With no end in sight to the labour dispute, the teachers tried Monday to find another mediator, after their first choice Vince Ready, said he was “too busy” and passed on the job on Sunday.

B.C.’s teachers launched their provincewide strike last week, after 16 months of failed negotiations. The two sides are within one per cent on their wage offers (the government is offering seven per cent over six years, the BCTF wants eight per cent over five years). The BCTF wants a $5,000 per teacher signing bonus and the government is offering $1,200.

The BCTF also wants a $225 million annual fund to hire new teachers and deal with class size and composition issues, after winning a B.C. Supreme Court case earlier this year that said the government had illegally stripped the right to bargain class size and composition issues from the teachers’ contract in 2002.

The BCTF also wants a $225 million fund to deal with retroactive grievances by members, as well as to pay for improved medical benefits, professional development and preparation time.

The government is offering to continue a $75 million Learning Improvement Fund, and says it can’t afford the BCTF’s terms.

Bacchus said the VSB, which has 10 per cent of the province’s students, has calculated that it would cost $60 million a year to restore the services in place in schools before 2002.

A one per cent increase in total teacher compensation (salary and benefits) costs approximately $30 million per year, the ministry of education says. In the strike so far, the employer has saved $122.4 million, $48 million due to four stage one closure days, $60 million due to five full strike days and $14.4 million due to the 10-per-cent pay cut that was in place during the lockout. If schools remain closed through the end of June, the total savings will be more than $168 million, the Ministry of Education said.

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